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Qckslvr’s biocube 32 is off and running.

Qckslvr

Qckslvr

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As of today my biocube 32, and first salt water tank is off to the races.

Huge shout out to Michael for live rock, and just a ton of information. Plus the tour of the tanks was great!

Used Coralife biocube 32 $200 with stand
Used AI Vega x4 $Free
Amazon Skimmer $ came with tank
Wave maker $ came with tank
Extruded aluminum bar for light stand $30
Substrate $Free…. Huge PITA to clean .. should have bought new
Amazon 4 stage RODI $70
Five Star Aquatics filter basket $100
Neptune misc stuff $160 so far
Fluval digital 200 watt heater **DEAD**
Aqueon 150W low profile preset heater $34.99
Inkbird ITC-308 $26 (Amazon sale!)
Rimmed tank multi position tank fan $16
Tap Plastics custom made risers for AI Vega $68
Gravel vac $20
Amazon ATO $38
 

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Well unfortunately this didn’t take long.

This morning went to work and tank was a happy 76 degrees. Got home at 5, and my condo is 81* and my tank is 80 :(

Trying to cool the tank, but will this harm the bacteria I am trying to get into a healthy state?
 
Not at all for the beneficial bacteria( bb) think higher temps speed up growth..I run my tanks at 78 which in the summer has got to 80 -82 with zero issues but my tank is all softies some sps can be more temperamental.. But you should have a cooling back up plan like fans or some frozen water bottles of rodi u can float. On standby have a chiller plus portable ac when temps get in the 90’s since I have no air conditioning ..Definitely recommend a temp controller that your heaters plug in to which are pretty reasonable..Some are cooling duel purpose so when your preset high temp hits its mark it triggers a cooling fan that you have mounted above the water which are made specifically for tanks can help quite a bit but any fan will technically work. Michael may have ideas since he ran that tank..Remember beneficial bacteria needs a bit of food regularly if you don’t have anything producing ammonia yet
best of luck
 
PjFish said:
Not at all for the beneficial bacteria( bb) think higher temps speed up growth..I run my tanks at 78 which in the summer has got to 80 -82 with zero issues but my tank is all softies some sps can be more temperamental.. But you should have a cooling back up plan like fans or some frozen water bottles of rodi u can float. On standby have a chiller plus portable ac when temps get in the 90’s since I have no air conditioning ..Definitely recommend a temp controller that your heaters plug in to which are pretty reasonable..Some are cooling duel purpose so when your preset high temp hits its mark it triggers a cooling fan that you have mounted above the water which are made specifically for tanks can help quite a bit but any fan will technically work. Michael may have ideas since he ran that tank..Remember beneficial bacteria needs a bit of food regularly if you don’t have anything producing ammonia yet
best of luck
Click to expand...
We keep the ac on in our place 24 hours a day even in winter time at 60 so never had a issue with over heating. A small fan may be a option plugged into a inkbird as mentioned here especially if you have one that's able to heat and cool. I wouldn't be concerned at 80 degrees but let's say it's summer time and house gets up to 85-90 than a fan wouldn't help. So a back up chiller might be something to plan for in advance when it gets warmer again. Immediately though I wouldn't worry as long as 80 is the peak. Something to keep a casual eye on.

People have used USB plug in type computer fans on smaller tanks to blow over the surface of the water fyi.
 
Updated the shopping list!

I got my Inkbird in over the weekend and installed it. With the cooler weather this was the perfect time to test my free tank heater. I set it to 80* and the Inkbird to 78.... And sadly my tank dropped to 76, and it was not getting warmer. So an emergency run to Petco, and they had the perfect heater! I got an Aqueon 150 watt 78* preset, shorty heater. I like it because chamber 2 is not very deep, and I can get this heater to it's minimum water line. Now my tank is a nice 77.4 and seems to stay there.

I also installed an ATO over the weekend.

And one other big note.... My tank has entered the ugly stage.... I did get the water tested on Sat (sorry I forgot the test card at home, will post it later) Neptune said my tank is doing well, but it needs to be fed. So I fed the tank a pinch of fish food.

But some questions.
Now that my tank is kinda ugly and there is no CUC in the tank
*should I be running my skimmer? (it is currently off)
*should I use a turkey baster to clean off the rock
*should I vacuum the sand that has algae?

Thanks!
 
Qckslvr said:
Updated the shopping list!

I got my Inkbird in over the weekend and installed it. With the cooler weather this was the perfect time to test my free tank heater. I set it to 80* and the Inkbird to 78.... And sadly my tank dropped to 76, and it was not getting warmer. So an emergency run to Petco, and they had the perfect heater! I got an Aqueon 150 watt 78* preset, shorty heater. I like it because chamber 2 is not very deep, and I can get this heater to it's minimum water line. Now my tank is a nice 77.4 and seems to stay there.

I also installed an ATO over the weekend.

And one other big note.... My tank has entered the ugly stage.... I did get the water tested on Sat (sorry I forgot the test card at home, will post it later) Neptune said my tank is doing well, but it needs to be fed. So I fed the tank a pinch of fish food.

But some questions.
Now that my tank is kinda ugly and there is no CUC in the tank
*should I be running my skimmer? (it is currently off)
*should I use a turkey baster to clean off the rock
*should I vacuum the sand that has algae?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
If you don't have any corals in there, you can leave the lights off. If you want to leave the lights on, then you need some herbivores to eat the algae. You can start with some snails like trochus and astrea and see how that goes.
 
dangalang said:
If you don't have any corals in there, you can leave the lights off. If you want to leave the lights on, then you need some herbivores to eat the algae. You can start with some snails like trochus and astrea and see how that goes.
Click to expand...
+1, no coral- no lights. Add clean up crew.

Personally on my newly started tanks I do (clean up crew ramp up over time)

On 210gallon tank as an example, I ran it a week nothing at all, lights off no fish,Or coral. Yet my tank was started with 100% live rock and 75% live crushed coral.

Week two I added a 2 tiny hermits crabs.
And 4 banging Cardinals.
The next week I added a pair of maroon clownfish.

The following week I added 2 bottles of pods, live pns bacteria, and I feed phyto to feed the bacteria and pods(not required but can't hurt anything)

A few days later I added corals mostly leathers, and I added like 12 smaller astria snails.

A few days later I added a baby yellow tang.

Next steps:

1.) to hold where I'm at. I have skimmer installed in sump but haven't turned it yet. Maybe I will fire it up next week.

2.) Clean up crew ramping Add Maybe 6-8 larger snails turbos or trochs, add Maybe 4 Nassarius snails to eat detritus in the finer crush coral and stir things up.

3.) I will add more coral, I already have another yellow tang for this tank and at least 3 wrasses but won't add any more fish for another week or two.

Later I will over time contine ramping up in clean up crew little by little so they don't starve.

When things are topped off I expect to have Maybe 60 smaller snails of different types, some will reproduce in the tank. At least 40 hermits blue and red legs. 20-40 larger snails.
But that's over time of course.

Current main 40 gallon sps tank display is slightly larger than biocube.

I have 40 smaller snails maybe alot more babies to small to see.
15 larger one. 20 hermits. If you look at the tank you can't draw a 5 inch circle and not see a clean up crew member. This tank is topped off on clean up crew and I never see hair alage and none of them are starving, so there is a happy balance.

Sorry for rambling on and on.

Nice Job on the ato, inkbird and the heater.

To me I aim for 78, but between 76-80 I'm content as long as it's not going up and down like a roller-coaster. One time of day 76.1 later 77.2 that's fine.
Not 76 at breakfast and 80, 2 hours later*

1. In a biocube32 smaller water volume I would run the skimmer now.

I haven't in my larger tank because system has prob 240-250 gallons of water and only a tiny bioload in terms of fish and system size.

2. Yes can't hurt to blow off rocks

3. Only if it crazy bad, brown alage diatoms shouldn't need you to do anything they will just go away, but cuc helps.
 
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Depending on how much algae on the structures take them out an scrub them down with rodi or saltwater and clean the gravel to ahead of the uglies then add a handful of snails like other members suggested .. You definitely don’t need any lights on for now!
I’d also recommend returning the present heater and getting a regular heater you can adjust in case. I run two half sized wattage heaters for redundancy if one goes out the other kicks on! Remember heaters work based on ambient room temperature..Lets say in winter if your house temp drops down to 60F or u go away with house heater off and temp gets alot lower your 150w heater may struggle to keep temp at 78.. Heres a rough temp chart which their are many out there plus articles..
Great job!
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